Share this Slideshow

Around The Web

Powered by ZergNet

Hot List 2013: Best New Spas in the World

Remember when you last took time for yourself? No? Then book an hour (or four) at one of the world’s best new spas—which our wordly reviewers rigorously, and anonymously, tested to ensure they’re up to snuff

An alluringly macabre relaxation retreat in the hip new QT hotel. Deco with a Brooklyn-gothic twist. The robes are black, the windows stained glass, and the details industrial—like oversized lightbulbs hanging from ceiling hooks.

Possibly the most sophisticated spa and wellness center in South America, with 10,000 square feet of space encompassing eight specialized treatment rooms, a sauna with a rain shower, a floating chamber, an indoor isotonic pool, and relaxation rooms. Cool but not trying too hard. Wavelike turquoise artwork and reclaimed-wood sculptures don't distract from the semitropical rain forest you see from the pool and floor-to-ceiling windows.

A hammam with nine treatment rooms meant to transport you to Marrakech (or at least a hyperstylized version of it). Mosaic tiles, gold marble, Oriental rugs, and windows that look as if they came straight out of a Moroccan riad.

A corporate but cushy pleasure palace on the hotel's eighth and ninth floors—and at 30,000 square feet and with 17 treatment rooms, the Four Seasons' largest urban spa. Beige, white, and gray. The vibe is clean and serene but somewhat icy—it's lucky the staff provide a warm-and-fuzzy complement.

On the sixty-ninth floor of the tallest skyscraper in a Chinese manufacturing hub, gentle therapists deliver a menu of subtly Asian-inspired offerings in nine simple treatment rooms. You can sorta see the fast-growing metropolis through sheer-white curtains covering the floor-to-ceiling windows. Everything's understated, from the marble floors to the muted purples, golds, and grays.

Dalmatia's biggest spa, a slick sanctuary on two floors with 13 treatment rooms. The name, Italian for "pure water," is a nod to the seafront locale. The cube-shaped spa has gleaming walls and floors made of fine white stone from Dalmatia's island of Brač, but it's the views that are best of all: The two-story Turkish hammam fronts the gardens and the sea, while the outdoor freshwater and brine pools and hut-like clay sauna come with fab vistas of the Zadar Islands.

Fabulosity incarnate. Not only are the two floors filled with treatment rooms, a private suite, a nail salon, and a gym, but the whole place is a warming antidote to London damp: "Thermal experiences" include sauna, steam room, ice fountain, a plunge pool with a waterfall, and an 80-foot pool bordered by canopied beds. Luxurious, with brilliant emerald-green glass walls and glittering gold and green tile work in the pools evoking the Bulgari family's silversmith past and haute jeweler present.

Asian calm meets ever-so-French elegance in this health club with a curated list of facials and body treatments from Carita. Bathed in daylight pouring through the soaring glazed facade of the former stable block. The spa's centerpiece is a lovely pool where you can do laps under a trompe l'oeil blue sky. There are loungers inside and out on a planted terrace, a gym, and two softly lit treatment rooms—with three more to come.

An ivory jewel box of a spa with about 1,000 square feet of pale-hued girlish wonders: a cloud-shaped indoor pool, eight treatment rooms, and a steam room and sauna. Glamorous, with rooms lit by crystal chandeliers and pillars covered in sparkly white and silver Bisazza tiles.

This isn't some three-room hotel add-on but a spacious standalone complex accessible by a bridge over a palm-fringed Kerala backwater. The reflecting pools and luscious tropical gardens immediately entice, and there are Ayurveda facilities, a hammam, a yoga pavilion, a gym, a healthy restaurant, and a nice pool. Plain and simple Kerala style—white walls, tropical hardwood furniture, basket-weave paddle ceiling fans.

On the Sea of Galilee's biblical shores, a fully equipped health oasis. Like an English castle, with stone walls and pastoral gardens—but since this is Israel, they're peppered with the occasional palm tree.

Within a former seventeenth—century monastery, this small but excellent spa includes a lavender—scented steam room, sauna, tepidarium (a tiled room that's warm but not roasting), and mini indoor pool. With high, arched ceilings and wrought iron fixtures, the effect is 50 Shades of Grey meets ancient cantina.

A standout spa a short walk from Vatican City and the Piazza Navona. Asian serenity meets ancient Rome, with minimalist white interiors and a courtyard pool that could be the bathing spot for a b.c.-era Roman general's ghost.

A sensitively designed spa, part of the revamped hotel—a city fixture since the 1930s. Inspired by Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Scottish Willow tearooms, it has wood floors and chocolate-brown or bright-purple treatment rooms trimmed with white, as well as a mosaic steam room.

A place that's regal and resplendent: Reflecting pools border a circular reception area under a thatched dome, and a tiled walkway leads to a walled garden filled with tropical trees and flowers, two tiled outdoor whirlpools, and a royal-looking recovery bed in a pavilion. Beyond are six thatched treatment rooms, each with a view of the sea. Lime-green throw pillows at reception; lime-green washcloths and amenities in the plain and simple changing room with small lockers—where there's sadly little privacy for undressing.

From the people who have brought you French face cream for almost six decades comes a tropical outpost with six overwater thatched treatment rooms. The exquisite arrangements of flowers, petals, and leaves are memorable—as is the nearby island you can see from the treatment suite.

Post-beach bliss is succumbing to Sisley's phyto-aromatic face and body treatments at this super-serene spa in the tropical gardens of an exclusive east coast resort. Swim in a thermal pool, or shape up with resident guru Isabelle Lamant, who combines Vinyasa yoga, dance, and gymnastics. Thatch, wood, and bamboo warm up minimalist spaces scented with candles and heady tropical flowers.

A standalone spa from Henri Chenot, whose medical spa in the Italian Alps draws detox-seeking high rollers. Here, however, the focus is less on curing and more on coddling. A stunning-and-seductive take on the typical riad—a small heated pool in the middle of a glittery, mosaic-paved courtyard, surrounded by stone archways.

A dazzlingly glam subterranean space with 20,000 square feet of spa stuff, from private hammam-style steam rooms to an 80-foot pool. The look: Despite its size, the space feels intimate and exotic. Candlelight from lanterns flickers on the tiled walls, and the pool glows in an alcove-like room covered in glittering mosaics.

A serene, welcoming aerie high above the dusty, hot, busy streets of booming Panama City—it’s on the twenty-fifth floor of one of the city’s best hotels. Discreet, classy perfection. The palette combines warm woods with neutral hues from cream to taupe.

Two curanderos, or shamans, have helped craft a spa that uses medicinal plants and their own handmade oils to soothe the skin and purify the body. It's tucked into a colonial convent with Incan ruins underneath. You've never seen anything this interesting while facedown on a massage table—two treatment rooms have glass floors so you can see Incan carvings below.

A polished hacienda dedicated to botanicals and bodacious bodies. Herbal bouquets of eucalyptus, pine, and lemongrass perfume the entrance hall; the open courtyard combines reception, a tea bar, and an infinity pool surrounded by a pergola; old apothecary bottles and jars stand atop lockers; copper sinks, old tools, and wooden doors complete the colonial feel.

Set in one of Switzerland's premier ski resorts, this is the first Six Senses Spa to offer outside product lines—including cultish Biologique Recherche—as well as familiar Asian therapies; the 12 treatment rooms also allow for flotation, colonic, Ayurvedic, and color therapy treatments. There's an indoor-outdoor pool, two whirlpools, a sauna, a hammam, a steam room, hot and cold plunge pools, sensory pods, a salt grotto, a yoga studio, a gym, and a juice bar. Kids can shoot down the water slide into a splash pool, as well as play on the grotto's "salt beach." The look: Echoes of a traditional chalet, with warm woods, natural fibers, and timber decor.

In St. Moritz's oldest hotel, which dates back to 1864, a striking wellness playground with trimmings to spare—a 65-foot indoor pool with underwater music, an outdoor pool with water jets, a whirlpool, a kids' pool, and a Kneipp footpath through pools of varying temperatures, two saunas, a steam bath, a salt grotto, and a gym. White spruce and larch wood (the mere sight of which is said to lower blood pressure), with pale-gray granite.

A place where a boxing ring for muay Thai fighting and a riverfront yoga platform can harmoniously coexist. In the basement of a Thai villa, palatial treatment rooms come with dark-wood floors, two beds, and a separate area where you can be scrubbed and showered. The regal-looking marble bathhouse includes dry and steam saunas, steam showers, and Jacuzzis.

What: A hushed and sophisticated outpost of the European spa giant ESPA, on the first floor of the swanky seaside resort. Maybe it's the views from the spa terrace—a staggering prospect of the Aegean—or maybe it's the fat marble columns, the luxurious swaths of natural stone, and the 320-square-foot pool. Whatever it is, the spa feels like the kind of place where Cleopatra and Mark Antony might once have booked a couples' massage.

An out-there, New Agey destination that chases massages and facials with chakra-reading seminars, holographic memory visualization, and healing ceremonies led by spiritual leaders—along with sunrise horseback rides and sunset drum circles. Overheard at the lap pool: "I felt like that psychic got me immediately." Slick but earthy—slate floors, walls of windows overlooking the snowcapped Santa Catalinas, and open fireplaces. The spa, gym, and juice bar are surrounded by cactuses and desert plants and have a bubbling hot tub and steaming pools.

A bohemian, no-frills massage room right out of a 1970s-style Wes Anderson movie—its six beds are separated by thin curtains, and a 60-minute massage comes with a very old-school price of $50. Dim lighting emanates from bulbs propped on stacks of vintage books, walls are painted peacock green, and there are red blankets on the thin-mattressed massage tables.

A Far East–inspired oasis in the Financial District's newly renovated Mandarin Oriental. The best perk? Supreme privacy—each of the four treatment rooms has its own shower and vanity area. Typical Mandarin Oriental, with silk accents, Chinese artwork (check out the six-foot statue of Kuan-Yin, goddess of mercy), and rich browns and golds, bathed throughout in soft, dim lighting.

You know those annoying but inspiring people who always look flawless, down to their dewy, taut skin? They're all over this massive spa, so one can only hope that their secret is the scientific skin-care-focused Remède facials and limb-loosening massages. Pretty neutral, with striated marble floors and walls and comfy couches in the relaxation lounge. You're greeted with a shot of watermelon juice served with an orchid on a small wood tray.